Side by Side Comparisons
by DalWriter
Summary: Set after Season 3. Duncan returns. He & Logan get drunk discussing their respective relationships with Veronica who shows up a bit tipsy herself.
1. Chapter 1

**Side by Side Comparisons**

Rating: R

Author: DalWriter

Characters: Duncan/Veronica/Logan; eventual LoVe

Summary: Set after Season 3. Duncan returns. He & Logan get drunk discussing their respective relationships with Veronica who shows up a bit tipsy herself.

Spoilers: nothing in particular but through _The Bitch is Back_ just in case

Disclaimers: As much as I would love to own them, I don't. This was written in tribute to a show I miss but have re-discovered on SoapNet. I am not making a profit from this but write for my own entertainment.

_Interior penthouse at the Neptune Grande Hotel _

In response to insistent knocking on the door, Logan finally glanced up from the video game he was half-heartedly playing. "Go away," he shouted.

"It's me, man. Let me in," a familiar voice called from outside.

Throwing down the controller, Logan scrambled off the couch and yanked open the door to greet his unexpected guest enthusiastically, "Duncan!" Stepping into the room, Duncan embraced his old friend and the guys clapped each other on the back as they reunited. "I thought I'd never seen you again. When. . . ? Where. . . ? What's up?" Logan couldn't finish a sentence; there were so many questions swirling around. The guys high-five'd each other.

Shrugging good naturedly, Duncan answered all the unasked questions simply, "You know it's not actually illegal when she's your own daughter."

Logan clapped him on the back. "Glad that's over." Looking around for a baby, Logan inquired, "So where is she?"

"With my parents. You didn't really think I'd bring my daughter over here, did you?"

"What's wrong with here?" Logan smirked.

Duncan couldn't help but smile at his friend's sarcasm but turned fairly serious. "Not _my_ daughter."

"They're all someone's daughter, dude."

Duncan cringed as _that_ reality set in. Fortunately, Lily was only about 18 months old. He didn't have to worry about guys like Logan for a while.

Plopping down on the modern white leather couch Duncan changed the subject. "Do you know where Veronica is? I tried to call her but her number seems to be out of service." Duncan waved his cell phone at Logan.

A shadow darkened Logan's face. Rather than answer directly he walked over to the wet bar, opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of Stoli and a pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice. Setting two lead crystal rocks glasses on the marble surface, Logan began filling them with ice from the nearby bucket, carefully using the tongs to allow each cube to fall into the crystal with a pleasant tinkle, he not so subtly played for time to formulate an answer to a seemingly simple question. "Want one?"

"Where is she?" Duncan repeated. "Logan . . . . ?"

That wasn't a "no". Pouring four fingers of vodka into each glass, Logan splashed them with a little juice, enough to change the color of the liquid but not really enough to mask the taste of vodka. The drinks were still more clear than anything. He returned the vodka and the juice to the 'fridge, then handed a drink to Duncan. Clinking glasses with his buddy, Logan toasted, "Here's to a blonde ball of fire," before sinking down on the other side of the L-shaped couch.

"Okay. Here's to my sister but what about Veronica?"

Logan chortled, "You have been gone a long time or you have a short memory."

Duncan looked at him quizzically. He was clearly missing something but didn't know what.

"That's who I was talking about, Veronica," Logan explained.

Duncan silently urged Logan to continue. Logan obliged after audible exhale and a brief hardly noticeable grimace. He really didn't want to be the one to catch Duncan up on all that transpired since he ran off but there didn't seem to be another choice. "She kinda had to change her phone number."

"I got that when I tried to call and the recorded voice told me the old number was no longer in service and no other information was available."

Seeing no other choices, Logan figured straight ahead was his best bet. "There was this tape, at the end of last semester. Her and her . . . . boyfriend." Logan spit out that word like it was poison. "It got pretty bad."

Just then the suite door flung wide open with a muffled bang and a drunken Dick stumbled in draped over a buxom redhead wearing a tiny bikini under a barely there cover-up; she was struggling to hold him up. As he was leading his new playmate toward his bedroom, he noticed people in the living area. "DK! Dude! Waasssup? You gotta see that tape, man. Ronnie was smokin'."

Although part of Duncan was happy to see his old friend, he instinctively knew that Dick's comment didn't bode well for what was coming next.

Logan cut off the discussion, "Now you know why Veronica changed her number."

"I saw the tape," Duncan reluctantly admitted to Logan. "My dad showed it to me. Wanted to show me 'what kind of a girl' Veronica was," the younger Kane supplied with air quotes emphasizing that he disagreed with his father. He knew exactly what 'kind of girl' Veronica was.

"Your dad?" empathized Logan. The idea of Duncan having to look at pictures of Veronica half naked with his own father was more than he could stomach. He hated that tape and wanted every copy, everywhere erased permanently just like the ones of Lilly and his own father that he wiped out on this very couch.

Duncan correctly interpreted the disgusted the look on Logan's face. "It wasn't nearly as bad as when I had to watch the tapes of my sister with . . . . "

"Yeah," Logan cut him off. "Thanks for not finishing that sentence. Let's just not go there, shall we? Great father son bonding times we've shared with our old men, huh?"

Dick had already forgotten his companion and rolled over the top of the couch between Duncan and Logan. "Issss good ta see ya, man," he grinned stupidly looking up at Duncan from his new supine position.

Having been through this on an almost daily basis, Logan dismissed the girl. "Thank you for getting our little Dick home safely. We'll take it from here." When she didn't move, Logan repeated slowly, "You. Can. Go. Now." He gestured with his glass pointing to the door in case the visitor had forgotten where it was.

Insulted, the redhead huffed, tossed her hair over her shoulder and marched out. The door clicked audibly behind her.

"Seriously, man. Ronnie looked fine." In an exaggerated manner Dick outlined her curves with his hands as he continued not realizing that neither Duncan nor Logan appreciated his commentary, but seeing Duncan's scowl he offered, "It's Okay. Logan beat the crap outta that Pizzant."

"Pizzant?" Duncan queried looking at Logan.

"Piz . . . Stosh Pisnarski . . . Veronica's . . . boyfriend," Logan sneered as he bit out the beginning of the explanation. "But it wasn't his fault. He didn't make the tape."

"But he was with Veronica," Duncan sought confirmation, wanting to take a poke at this boyfriend himself.

Logan understood exactly what Duncan was thinking and feeling. "Yeah. It did feel kind of good to beat his face in." Duncan nodded in agreement and appreciation.

At that moment, Dick chose to upchuck. Logan managed to get a wastebasket under his face but not before he got some puke on the couch, the floor, the area rug, and the corner of the coffee table. At least he missed the game console.

"Gross!" Duncan exclaimed jumping away from his sloshed friend.

Logan shrugged. "Welcome to my world. I'll call housekeeping. Can you get him into his room?"

Although Duncan had gotten used to all sorts of bodily fluids emanating from both ends of his infant daughter, he didn't want to deal with Dick's vomit. "I'll call housekeeping. You deal with barfing beauty over here."

When Logan emerged from Dick's room a few minutes later housekeeping had already arrived and was cleaning Dick's mess. Duncan was standing helplessly in the middle of the room, not knowing what to do. Grabbing the drinks from the coffee table, Logan handed Duncan his and headed toward the sliding glass doors to the balcony. "It stinks in here. Let's go outside."

"Great idea. It's been a while since I've seen a California sunset."

Once they settled into the cushioned wicker lounge chairs, Duncan lamented, "I missed her, you know. I didn't want to leave her behind but she said it was for the best."

"That's our Veronica. Always thinking of others," Logan scoffed good-naturedly.

"She does. She's so sweet," Duncan continued, unfazed by Logan's dismissive attitude.

"If you say so," Logan looked over at Duncan. The sun was sinking into ocean on the horizon; the twinkling lights of Neptune were beginning to brighten. "I guess . . . . your Veronica was sweet," Logan conceded thinking back to the big dance sophomore year, before Lilly's murder, before his father, before Beaver, before Mercer. . . "Mine was . . . feisty."

Duncan arched an eyebrow, "Your Veronica?"

Logan shrugged unapologetically. "You told me to keep an eye on her."

"An eye," Duncan repeated. "I never said anything about any other parts."

"You're the one who put the fox in charge of the hen house."

Duncan laughed sardonically. He wasn't really mad at Logan. Part of him never expected to return to Neptune. Better Logan then some random stranger. Duncan knew full well what Logan and Veronica shared during the summer between their junior and senior years of high school. He watched it almost every day that summer from his vantage point at the Java Hut. He also endured Logan's scorn and ridicule after he and Veronica reconciled. Duncan couldn't claim that he was surprised that they picked up where they left off in his absence, but speculating about it and confirming that she hadn't been sitting home alone pining for him were two different things.

Needing some time to collect his thoughts, Duncan downed the last of his drink and stepped back into the penthouse. The staff had cleaned up Dick's mess and that sour smell could not be detected. You had to appreciate the quality service at a five star hotel.

He grabbed the Stoli, some ice and the juice out of the small bar fridge and returned outside to refresh their drinks, making them just as strong as the ones Logan initially supplied. When he turned to put the containers back inside, Logan suggested, "Leave 'em so we don't have to get up again but bring the ice bucket out here."

"Okay," Duncan agreed, returning with a brimming ice bucket and settling back into his lounger. Taking a healthy sip of his drink, he redirected the conversation to its original subject. "You still haven't told me where she is."

Sighing, Logan admitted, "I don't really know. By the end of last semester, we weren't talking. As soon as school was over she bolted to the east coast, some sort of internship with the F.B.I."

"Really?" Duncan was a bit surprised by that. After Veronica helped him escape and thwarted the F.B.I.'s efforts to stop him, he didn't think they would want her working for them. Then again, his dad always said the best hackers made the best code writers. Maybe the F.B.I. felt the same way.

"Kind of ironic," Logan agreed gesturing toward Duncan with his drink as if he knew exactly what the other man had been thinking.

"So you haven't talked to her since school got out?"

"I got 2-3 emails and I called her on her birthday but just got voice mail."

"So you have her number?" Duncan pulled out his cell phone poised to enter Veronica's new digits and stared at Logan expectantly.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N** – when I posted the 1st chapter I inadvertently forgot to thank my beta, lateVMlover for all of her invaluable assistance.

_Exterior: Neptune beach_

From her perch on a beach blanket Mac waved both hands over her head excitedly to get Veronica's attention. "Over here!"

Veronica smiled and quickened her step toward her friend who was sitting close enough to feel the warmth of the bonfire on the beach but far enough away that they weren't in the middle of the end of summer kegger. Once Veronica Flopped down on the blanket, the girls hugged.

"It's so good to see you!" the brunette squealed uncharacteristically. "So how was Virginia?"

"It was awesome. You would have been in heaven with all the computers. The F.B.I has the most amazing technology. I met this awesome analyst at the BAU named Penelope. She's got crazy multi colored hair like you and mad skills."

"I'll bet," Mac smiled ruefully dreaming of the day she could lay her hands on that kind of power and brushed a baby blue streak of hair out of her face. A soft breeze was blowing in from the Pacific Ocean. Both girls were continually tucking loose strands of hair behind their ears.

"I'm glad you're home. It wasn't the same without you."

"Where's Max?"

As if on cue, Mac's boyfriend appeared carrying a cooler. He placed it on the blanket next to Veronica. "Hello beautiful," he greeted Mac with a kiss, that quickly went from socially acceptable to something more intimate.

Veronica scanned the beach trying to avoid the happy couple making out inches from her. The awkwardness of the situation was reflected on her face but she didn't really want to vacate the blanket and be forced to make small talk with some random partier just looking to get wasted.

Mac retracted from Max before they got more carried away. "What's in the cooler?" she asked.

Max took the hint and stepped onto the blanket between the two girls, pulling the cooler closer to him and opening as he sat down. "I wasn't sure what you drank, Veronica, so I got some beer, a couple of Twisted Teas and some Mike's Lemonade."

"I'll take a beer," Mac said, reaching out to take the bottle Max extracted from the ice.

Veronica debated with herself before taking what she thought was the safest option, "I'll have an iced tea."

The threesome sat by the fire, close enough to the other partiers to be part of the group lamenting the end of the California summer - at least according to the calendar that said it was Labor Day weekend - but far enough away so that they were off in their own world. They spent the next few hours catching up on all that had happened in their lives over the summer.

"I'm glad Mac talked you into not dropping out, Max."

Max looked skeptical. "I don't know if it will do any good. My GPA was so low it was practically a negative number. I might not be able to stay."

Mac wasn't going to let him off that easily. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You aced the philosophy class you took this summer."

"Yeah, but summer is my slow period, so I had the time to concentrate. Plus it was only one class."

"Have you seen Piz yet?" Mac changed the subject. Since she was in love, Mac wanted everybody else to be coupled up and as happy as she was.

Veronica drained her drink, then fished through the melting ice for another. This was her third. "We broke up. Pitchfork Media offered him a real job so he's staying in the City and transferring to Columbia."

"Long distance can work," offered Max sympathetically.

Veronica smiled wanly. "We had enough problems before you add in the distance factor. It just wasn't worth the effort."

"Okay," Mac said cautiously not wanting to open old wounds but unable to resist. "Was one of those problems about 6 feet tall with a sarcastic wit and fists of steel?"

Rolling her eyes, Veronica chuckled, "Fists of steel? Fists of stupidity maybe."

"He misses you too, you know," Mac volunteered.

Scoffing, Veronica challenged, "Right. Besides, even if he did, how would you know?"

"Their little project actually took off. That Rate the Asses website of theirs is pulling in some bucks," Max supplied.

Veronica was confused. "What website?"

Mac elaborated, "The one I . . . Max and I . . . designed for Logan last year for his business class. Even though his professor didn't like it, we launched it and it took off. We get about 9,000 hits a day."

Shaking her head, Veronica conceded, "That's . . . ." She searched for the right word. "That's impressive, in a sick sort of way."

"Hey, we used Dick Casablancas as the model for our target market. Never underestimate the stupidity of the American male. Add in a little sex . . ."

"It's not like I've forgotten how you afforded your precious VW Bug in high school," Veronica recalled the infamous purity test which solidified their friendship.

"God bless America!" Mac enthused, holding up her beer bottle for a toast. The threesome clinked the necks of their bottles.

After another round, Veronica attempted to stand up but was unsteady on her feet. Swaying she announced, "I have to pee," then giggled looking at Max.

Mac who had finished one beer and was only about one quarter of the way through her second and nursing it, stood to help her friend. "I'll go with you." Putting her arm around Veronica's waist, Mac turned her friend away from the waves steering the tipsy blonde toward the public ladies' room adjacent to the parking lot.

When Veronica bounced off the walls using her hands for balance as she walked out of facility, Mac was starting to worry. "How'd you get here?"

"I walked, why?" Veronica slumped down on a bench and looked up toward a nearby building. "There's the Neptune Grand. The tallest building in town. And look - the lights are on in the Penthouse."

Mac didn't say anything. She'd never seen Veronica drunk. Veronica was always so in control. Having been roofied so many times, she was usually paranoid about not losing it or about allowing herself to be vulnerable.

This Veronica continued babbling. "I had some great times in that penthouse. Great times. Whaddya think it means that the lights are on? Do you think he has someone up there with him?"

Mac took a deep breath and motioned for Max to come to them. It was going on midnight and he had already correctly surmised that their little party was breaking up. After throwing out the empties he collected the blanket before heading toward where Mac waited with an intoxicated Veronica. When he reached them Mac announced, "We've got to take her home."

"I'll get the car. Gimme your keys," Max requested.

Mac fished the keys to her Bug out of the pocket of her shorts. When Max pulled up moments later with the car, they bundled Veronica into the back seat. "Don't you dare puke in my car, Mars," Mac cautioned.

"I'm not drunk, Mac [hiccup] Kenzie," insisted Veronica. All Mac could do was roll her eyes and hope Veronica wasn't going to be too hung over in the morning.

A few moments later they pulled up in front her apartment complex. Mac got out of the passenger side, and folded the seat up so Veronica could climb out of the back. The blonde stumbled awkwardly and grabbed for her more sober friend. "You're a good egg. I'm glad we're friends."

"Me too," agreed Mac, indulgently patting Veronica on the back and starting to walk them toward the front door.

Realizing where they were headed and what – or more specifically who – was on the other side of that door, Veronica protested and staggered sideways. "No. Lemme go ssshhhh . . . sit .. over here 'n get some air. I really don't wanna face my dad like thish." She was slurring her works.

Mac understood Veronica's concerns. She had met Sheriff Mars enough to know that the newly re-elected sheriff wasn't going to be thrilled with his intoxicated underage daughter. At that point Mac finally saw the plastic lounge chairs by the pool where Veronica was headed and helped her over there. Veronica initially stretched out on a chaise but then pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself. It had gotten cooler as the evening had worn on.

When Mac unzipped her oversized hoodie and draped it over Veronica's shoulders, Veronica smiled gratefully pulling it around herself. "Thanks."

"Are you gonna be alright?"

"Yeah, I'mmmm fine." Nodding in the direction of the running car, Veronica instructed. "Get goin'. Max ish waitin' fer ya."

Not completely convinced that leaving her friend outside was the best idea, Mac reluctantly climbed back into her car.

Veronica watched the taillights of the Bug fade off into the distance. _I want that_ she thought. "I'm going to go get that," she said aloud to no one as she stood up and started walking.

**A/N** next: what happens when Veronica enters the suite?


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** The boys continue their discussion; this is a short chapter.

_The balcony of the Penthouse _

The bottle of Stoli was empty between them and they had moved on to straight Tequila with a few beers thrown in for good measure. A pizza box had been discarded at their feet containing some crusts and greasy napkins. They were both slumped over the lounge chairs, neither seemingly able to fully sit up under his own power.

"She always tasted like marshmallows," Duncan lamented.

"She tasted like Lily," Logan corrected.

Cringing, Duncan lolled his head back and forth. "My girlfriend and my sister. Dude, you're killin' me here."

"It was our first kiss, at the Camelot." Logan's voice took on a wistful tone. "I punched out that Ben kid."

"You mean that D.E.A. agent."

"Yeah him, whatever. She kissed me." Logan had Duncan's full attention with that revelation. "It was just a peck, but that strawberry lip gloss. She was your sister."

Duncan sat bolt upright. There was an edge to his voice. "Veronica is not my sister! The DNA tests proved that." He was still freaked out by the slightest suggestion that he could have been involved in an incestuous relationship.

"No, she was Lily," Logan tried to clarify.

Now Duncan was confused. "You thought Veronica was Lily?" He took a last drink from the warm beer at his side, thinking incorrectly that more alcohol would make this conversation easier to comprehend.

"Yes. No." Logan was still trying to make sense of that long ago afternoon and explain it to himself even though his current blood alcohol level was making that almost impossible. "She tasted like Lily and I missed that, so I grabbed her and kissed her. I wanted it to be Lily but it was Veronica and it was . . . . different, and it was . . . better."

Duncan sighed at his own memories of Veronica. "I loved her soft kisses."

Now it was Logan's turn to be confused. "Soft? Her kisses were hot, so hot they could curl your toes and set you on fire all at the same time."

Unfazed Duncan continued his own reverie. "I liked the little pink bows on the front of her bras. They were so cute."

"I never noticed," dismissed Logan. When he was undressing Veronica her clothes never stayed on long enough for him to bother about the details of what she was wearing. All he cared about was getting her naked as fast as possible.

"It was so sweet how she blushed every time, before I turned out the lights."

Logan looked at his friend as though he had changed genders. *God, he really is a girl* "The lights were usually on." It would have taken too much time and effort to turn them off. Plus Logan preferred to watch. Darkness was only good for sleeping.

Duncan was taken aback by that comment and tried to school his buddy in the art of romance. "A gentleman is supposed to give a lady the comfort of darkness so as not to embarrass her."

Logan narrowed his eyes and peered at his friend as though Duncan has suddenly materialized out of a nineteenth century Victorian novel. "Not much made the Bobcat blush."

"Bobcat?" Duncan didn't really want to know. "Are you sure we're talking about the same girl?"

Logan considered his friend for a long moment. "No, I'm not."

They both chortled.

Massaging his hands over his face, Logan confessed, "I'm too drunk for this. I'm going to bed. You're welcome to crash here. You probably shouldn't drive."

"No kidding." Duncan got up and staggered behind Logan into the master bedroom. Both were stripping off their clothes and dropping them through the suite as they ambled. Inside the double doors they crashed onto opposite sides of the king-sized bed, atop the covers. Both passed out almost as soon as their faces hit the pillows.

**A/N:** What happens when Veronica finally arrives?


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** The moment you have all been waiting for: Veronica arrives at the suite

_Interior Lobby of the Neptune Grand _

By the time Veronica had walked the length of the 15 or so blocks from her apartment to the Neptune Grande along the beach she had sobered up considerably. The fresh air and exercise helped. At least she was no longer staggering.

Entering the lobby, she was greeted by the chipper front desk clerk. "Hello Logan's girlfriend." Nobody had called her that in a while. "Haven't seen you around."

"Hey Tina," Veronica waved, not stopping on her way to the elevators. Before hitting the up button Veronica turned and went back to the desk. "I just got back from my internship in Virginia. In my rush to get over here I forgot my key card. Can I maybe please have another one?"

"It's against hotel policy to hand out duplicate cards to the penthouse floor," Tina explained but seeing the dejected puppy dog look on Veronica's face coupled with her patented head tilt, Tina decided to make an exception, "but I think it will be okay this one time. We'll just make it our little secret."

Veronica made a twisting gesture in front of her mouth. "My lips are sealed." She took the proffered card from Tina. "Thanks."

Using the card to activate the elevator because guests need a card to access the restricted penthouse floors, Veronica momentarily wondered what she was doing but forged ahead. When the doors of the elevator opened she marched straight over to Logan's suite. After taking a calming deep breath she plunged the card into the reader and pulled it back out. When the green light engaged, she gingerly opened the door to the penthouse. It was dark. She jumped and gasped, grabbing for the taser she didn't have with her as Dick padded out of the kitchen area eating a slice of cold pizza. She startled him as much as he scared her.

"Jesus! Veronica," Dick exclaimed with his mouth full. "What'r you doin' here?"

"I need to talk to Logan."

Dick rolled his eyes. "It's one o'clock in the morning. You stomped on his heart, practically ripped his balls off . . . then you left him alone all summer, which was a good thing. He needs to get over you. You're rich dude kryptonite."

Veronica grimaced. She didn't want to hear this. Not now. Not from him. "Just tell me where he is, Dick."

Jerking his head toward Logan's bedroom door, Dick mocked, "Where you do think he is?"

Taking a few determined steps toward the double doors, Veronica paused and looked back at Dick. She was frozen in fear. "Is he alone?"

"God, I hope not."

Veronica glared venomously at him and Dick immediately regretted challenging her. "I don't know. I've been passed out since about 8:00 o'clock." With that, he wandered the rest of the way across the room and disappeared into his own bedroom.

Before storming into Logan's bedroom Veronica took a moment to do some sleuthing. The video games were out. That was a good sign because Logan would have put them away if he was expecting a woman. Plus there were men's clothes all over the room but no women's clothes. The glass doors to the balcony weren't closed all the way. Veronica surveyed the outside scene as she pulled the heavy sliders shut, keeping the air conditioning in and the damp night air out. Empty Stoli bottle. Empty beer bottles. Discarded pizza box. Half a bottle of tequila. Two shot glasses. No lipstick prints visible. Looked more a boys' night in than a date. Breathing deeply Veronica solidified her resolve and pushed opened the double doors to Logan's room.

What she found caused her to laugh out loud. There on the bed were Logan and Duncan. Both had on only their underwear – loose boxers for Duncan and tight fitting boxer briefs for Logan. Their defined smooth chests were bare. The air conditioning was set too cold and they were on top of the covers, hugging one another for warmth.

"Oh my God!" she screeched involuntarily, clamping her hand over her mouth.

Veronica hadn't meant to be so loud but as soon as the words left her mouth the occupants of the king-sized bed awoke with a start and broke apart in embarrassment. Regaining bits of their composure, both said her name, "Veronica." Duncan's tone conveyed his joy at seeing her. Logan's barely masked the anguish and longing fighting for control of his soul.

Looking at the two of them together in that bed, nearly naked, Veronica continued to giggle. Her infectious laughter pulled both guys into her mirth.

"What are you doing here, Veronica?" Logan asked once the laughter subsided.

Without taking her eyes off Duncan, Veronica replied in a small voice devoid of emotion, "I came to talk to you."

"You look amazing," Duncan rasped seemingly out of left field. His description hardly fit. She was disheveled. Her hair was windblown. Her eye liner was smudged; her lip gloss from earlier was long gone by now. Mac's extra-large hoodie overwhelmed her small frame.

Although no one could tell in the dim light of Logan's bedroom, Veronica blushed at the compliment. "Duncan!" she launched himself into her former boyfriend's arms. "What are you doing here? When did you get back? Are you OK? Where's Lily?" Her questions were running together and muffled by the fact that she had buried her face into the crook of Duncan's neck as they embraced fervently with him sitting up to hold her and her kneeling on the bed.

Duncan caressed her shoulder then gently eased her back so he could look at her. Their lips were immediately drawn together as if there were magnets inside. It was a soft, sweet kiss, nothing like the passionate ones she shared with Logan.

"Ahhem. . .," coughed Logan from beside them. "Can you two please get a room? This one's mine."

"It used to be mine," quipped Duncan as he broke the kiss. Still hugging Veronica he grinned over her shoulder at his friend.

"A lot of things used to be yours," Logan reminded him.

Veronica dislodged herself from Duncan's embrace and sat back cross-legged at the foot of the bed staring at the two studs before her. She looked back and forth between them trying to find the words. She had come over here to reconcile with Logan. She realized over the summer that she genuinely missed him. Her internship also reinforced the value of team work and that you never went into danger without knowing that someone had your back. Logan had repeatedly proven that he was that someone from the first time he came to her rescue at the Camelot through the day he pummeled Gory Sorkin in the Hearst cafeteria. Whether she liked it or not, he was there protecting her.

Massaging her hand over her face Veronica began, "I can't believe this. Duncan, you're back."

"DK in the flesh," sneered Logan. Then as his alcohol soaked brain began to realize that Veronica couldn't have known Duncan was here because he hadn't been able to call her, he asked again, "What are you doing here?"

"I got drunk by accident," she replied as if that explained everything.

"What?" Logan demanded.

"I asked for an iced tea"

"From where, Long Island?" Logan scoffed.

"No," Veronica tried to explain but since she really didn't understand how she ended up in this predicament the explanation wasn't forthcoming. "It doesn't matter. I'm here now."

"So you came over for a bootie call," Duncan teased enviously regarding his buddy like he was the luckiest man in the world.

"I wanted to talk to you," Veronica began, but stopped when she looked over at Duncan.

"So talk," Logan commanded.

"Now I don't know what to say," Veronica lamented.

Shaking his head, Logan dismissed her. "It's too late and I'm too drunk for this."

"Apparently," Veronica giggled.

"What's that supposed to mean? You're not exactly sober," Logan retorted.

Veronica giggled again. "I don't know what I expected to find when I opened those doors but you and Duncan cuddled up naked wasn't anywhere on that list."

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa," Duncan protested hands in the air, palms forward, fingers spread forming the universal sign for stop. "Nobody's naked."

"And we weren't cuddling," Logan finished.

Veronica couldn't resist. "Looked like cuddling to me," she postulated in her best angelic voice.

Thinking with one mind, the guys pounced. They were both fully aware of her most ticklish spots. Their simultaneous assault found her pinned to the bed, crying with laughter and hiccupping in a few moments.

"Stop. Stop. Stop! I'm gonna throw up," she wailed.

"There's already been enough of that," Duncan complained, rolling off the tiny blonde.

Veronica looked at Logan for an explanation which was immediately forthcoming. "Dick." Veronica nodded sagely. Some things never changed.

The guys lay on either side of Veronica. She was on her back, with her arms at her sides. Duncan and Logan were on their respective sides curled up against her; each had an arm draped over her middle. Duncan was the first to move. "I'm cold," he complained.

"Then get under the covers," Logan grumbled.

"I can't. You two are on them."

Not wanting to get up or release Veronica because it has been so long since he'd held her, even if he was currently sharing her with Duncan, Logan didn't budge until she did.

"I should go," declared Veronica as she moved to get off the bed.

"Go where at this hour?" Logan asked without getting up.

"Home," Veronica replied as if the answer to his question was blatantly obvious.

"How'd you get here, anyway?" Duncan inquired.

"I walked."

"Well you're not walking home," Logan declared in a tone that left no room for debate.

Duncan agreed, "It's not like either one of us can drive you." Both still reeked of alcohol. It was as though the booze was coming out of their pores.

By now Logan had rearranged himself into the proper orientation with his head rather than his feet by the pillows. He was pulling down the covers, preparing to crawl back into bed with Duncan. "So you better get in."

Veronica looked from Logan to Duncan and back again. This didn't seem like a very good idea.

"C'mon Veronica we're all friends," Duncan assured her, patting the middle space between him and Logan.

"We're big boys," asserted Logan, not shying away from the double meaning of that statement. "We can share our toys."

Veronica glared at him but moved toward them because she couldn't think of another option.

"Take those jeans off, missy," Duncan instructed, tugging at a belt loop. She would have expected a comment like that from Logan not Duncan.

"Hoodie too," Logan added, pulling at one of the sleeves that was already four inches longer than her arm.

Furrowing her brow, Veronica began to contemplate her precarious position. "At this rate you two will have me naked."

"Now there's a good idea," joked Logan still tugging at the sleeve of the hoodie.

Duncan groaned, "Not that I don't agree but right now all I want is some sleep."

Realizing how tired she was and that neither guy had the wherewithal to try anything, Veronica stripped off Mac's hoodie and wiggled out of her jeans. Clad only in her panties and two layered tank tops which she had worn to the beach to avoid having to wear a bra, Veronica took the place offered to her between Logan and Duncan. This was going to be an interesting night.

**A/N**: Stay tuned to see what the morning brings


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** I know how much you all LoVe mornings. I hope this was worth the wait.

_Interior Logan's bedroom at the Neptune Grande_

Even though the room faced west the breaking dawn steaming through the curtains which had not been completely shut slowly woke Veronica. Her ground floor bedroom in the apartment she shared with her father was usually dark so this light change heightened her senses. She felt warm and safe. The 1000 thread count sheets were luxuriously soft against her skin. Inhaling, she smelled Logan's cologne and knew exactly where she was without opening her eyes. She had rolled onto her side during the night and Logan was spooned up to her back, with his arms wrapped protectively around her. They usually slept that way. It was as if Veronica was his own personal, life-sized teddy bear, singularly responsible for keeping his nighttime monsters at bay. She nestled back into the familiar urgency she knew she'd find. Certain parts of Logan always awoke ready for action.

Sighing contentedly, Veronica shifted slightly and craned her head back to capture his sleepy lips. "LowGee," she cooed before making contact.

Typical Logan, even half asleep, he maneuvered Veronica more onto her back so he could deepen the kiss. It was slow and lazy but still allowed a deep warmth to seep through her languid body. His hand snaked under her shirt in search of a pert breast.

The movement of his bedmates had awakened Duncan. Smirking uncontrollably he echoed Veronica's pet name in a sing-song voice, "LowGee."

Veronica's eyes immediately flew open. "Oh my God!" she yelped sitting up and pulling away from Logan. The two arms she felt around her didn't both belong to Logan. One was Duncan's and it was still cradling her hip.

Reluctantly releasing her, Logan shifted so his was partially sitting up, propped against the padded headboard. "Could you two keep it down? I have a marching band in my head."

"Whatever you say, LowGee," Duncan ribbed his buddy. Lying on his side, Duncan had propped his head up against his hand and was grinning at his friends.

"If you wanna live, don't say another word, Donut," Logan cautioned with a growl.

Duncan snickered at the empty threat.

By now Veronica was sitting fully upright, although the sheet was still covering her to her waist. To anybody who cared to look, it was obvious that the air conditioned room was too cold. "What the hell happened last night?"

Duncan took a few minutes to assess Veronica. He'd never get the image of her making out with Logan out of his head. His eyes still burned with the kisses he had to witness two years earlier at the Java Hut but here in bed with them, this was just so much more intimate. "You don't know?"

"If I knew I wouldn't have asked," she retorted punching Duncan in the arm.

"That's not fair. He gets kissed and I get punched."

"Can you two really not be quiet?" Logan was grimacing and rubbing his temples, trying unsuccessfully to turn down the volume of the marching band in his head.

Veronica and Duncan looked at Logan sympathetically. He had to have drunk at least twice as much as Duncan so he must be nursing one heck of a hangover.

"Aspirin. Aspirin and water," Logan announced rising from the bed. Disappearing into the bathroom, he rattled around behind the frosted glass and came back with a small bottle. After tapping two pills into his hands, he offered the bottle to his companions who both declined. Tossing the bottle onto the bed, Logan went out into the living area, leaving Veronica and Duncan alone in the master suite with the double doors open.

Duncan stared at her with wonder and brushed her bedhead hair out of her face. "I always did love waking up with you in my arms. I missed you."

Veronica swallowed. This was surreal. She trailed a finger in a zig zag pattern down Duncan's bare hairless chest to reassure herself that he wasn't a dream, and then rested her palm over his heart if for no other reason than to feel his heart beating, confirming that he was in fact real. "Duncan, I . . . "

Duncan didn't really want to talk. He was jealous that Logan kissed her and he wanted to prove to her that he still cared, that he wanted her back. Cupping his hand behind her head, Duncan pulled Veronica down for a kiss. Although it was gentle, Veronica could feel the love being poured out from his mouth to hers.

Lost in a sea of emotions, neither realized that Dick was also awake. Peering or rather leering into the bedroom while shoveling cereal into his mouth, he interjected, "Impressive Ronnie. Two at once. I didn't know you had it in you. You go girl."

Dick's voice broke Duncan and Veronica apart. Embarrassment momentarily flushed across her face but she wasn't going to let Dick know he had any ability to rattle her. Duncan seemed awkwardly proud but both quickly recovered and glowered at the oaf in the doorway. Taking a step into the room, Dick half joked, "Can I play too?"

By now Logan had returned with three bottles of water. He finished taking a long slug from one and used that hand with his single bottle to push Dick back. "Get out." Closing the doors in Dick's face, Logan turned toward the couple in his bed. Tossing a bottle at Duncan he handed the other to Veronica, then swallowed visibly to clear the lump in his throat. It took great will power to enable him to speak without his emotions cracking his voice even though heartbreak was written all over his face. When it came to Veronica Logan could never successfully bury his emotions, although he still tried. "So now what?"

Veronica didn't have an answer. She was still trying to piece together how she woke up between them and went from kissing Logan to kissing Duncan in the space of mere minutes. Her mouth would open but no words came out. All she could do was glance back and forth between them searching for answers in their faces. Their eyes each mirrored her confusion. They also weren't looking at each other she noticed.

Sliding off the bed, Duncan broke the palpable silence, "Now I go home." When nobody said anything Duncan continued. "You two have a lot to talk about."

"Blondie doesn't seem to be in a talkative mood," Logan alluded to the kiss he had witnessed from across the living room.

"Not fair," piped the blonde in question finally finding her voice.

"It's not fair," Duncan agreed sadly. "V, when I kissed you just now, you actually pushed me away."

Veronica eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't even realized that she had increased the pressure exerted by the hand resting on Duncan's chest. Logan was now intrigued.

"It's OK. I knew things were going to be different when I got home. Logan made it pretty clear last night that you aren't the girl I fell in love with anymore."

Veronica didn't know how to respond to that. Fortunately she didn't need to.

"Where are my pants?" Duncan asked sheepishly searching the floor in vain for the aforementioned garment.

"In the living room, I think," offered Logan.

"Oh yeah," Duncan recalled. Vague flashes of disrobing on the way to pass out returned to his fuzzy brain. "Look I don't know what happened between you two but clearly it's not finished."

Logan and Veronica assessed each other warily. Their eyes always managed to say more than their words.

This look wasn't lost on Duncan. "I'll get out of your hair so you can talk . . . or not." He winked at them both, kissed Veronica on the cheek, then turned and exited the room.

Logan and Veronica silently watched their friend leave.

When the doors closed, Logan stretched back on the bed and crossed his long legs at the ankles, still sucking down the bottled water. He waited for Veronica.

"I really did come here last night to talk," she began.

"Sure you did. Oh the number of women who sneak into my hotel room during the wee hours to partake in my linguistic wit."

"Logan," Veronica was exasperated. "This morning," she gestured clumsily at the space between them where they had awakened together earlier. "I didn't realize . . . It just all came back . . . It was so familiar and . . ."

". . . Right?" Logan postulated hoping that Veronica felt the same way. The way her sleepy, barely conscious body responded to his, Logan knew this wasn't over and prayed she knew it too. He turned to look loving at her and skimmed his knuckles down her cheek. When he saw that loved mirrored in her eyes he continued, edging ever close to her. "I told you a long time ago . . . you and me. . . we're epic."

Veronica closed the last few centimeters between their lips, reigniting the spark that always smoldered just under the surface. Discarding the water bottle, Logan wrapped a sinewy arm around her waist pulling her against him like a strong undertow. His other hand snaked up to tangle in her golden locks. She opened herself up willingly and completely to this force of nature that was Logan Echolls, the love of her life. They quickly shed their last few pieces of clothing until they were reunited in all ways.

Glowing in the aftermath of their reunion, the lovers spooned contentedly and basked in the warmth of their connection as the sun rose higher in the morning sky. Logan snuggled Veronica closer wanting as much of her as he could get. With this much full body contact while she was facing away from him Logan ventured to open some old wounds with the hope that they could be cauterized forever. "Are we gonna talk about it?"

Turning in his arms, Veronica studied Logan for a long minute as her hand idly caressed his pectoral muscles. Sighing she announced, "I don't need protecting."

"You can't expect me to sit idly by."

"The way you wanted me on the sidelines with all your stunts – the knife fight on the Coronado Bridge, antagonizing the PCHers, the pool fire, even taking a poke at Duncan."

"That wasn't about you." Logan asserted.

" 'Well maybe if you plugged her right the first time'," Veronica parroted Logan's words from FBLA class, "and then the punches began to fly. No, not about me at all."

Logan conceded, "Not _all_ about you. Didn't last night convince you that Donut and I made up?"

Veronica rolled her eyes. "My point is that while I don't need to be protected, I have come to understand that I do need back up."

"What's your dog have to do with this?" Logan asked confused.

Veronica let out an exasperated breath. "Not Back-up - back up, support, knowing somebody is there for me, has my back, no matter what."

"No matter what," Logan agreed dropping a kiss on her forehead.

"Support . . . that doesn't mean you fight my battles for me or hire someone else to do it."

Logan exhaled audibly.

"You can't treat me like, . . . like, . . . you can't treat me like a girl, Logan."

He chuckled. It still amused him that she renounced her feminine side. "Well if you aren't a girl, we're not doing this anymore. I don't go the other way, not even for you, Sugarpuss," Logan joked trying to lighten the mood. After making love, he really didn't want to fight.

"I'm serious," Veronica asserted, trying to pull back from him but Logan's solid arms weren't letting her go anywhere.

"You're right," he teased. "You're a woman, not a girl."

Veronica pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at him but she couldn't stay mad as Logan skimmed her naked body with his hands and cupped her tiny butt pulling him closer to him as her playfully growled "_My_ woman!" which made her giggle. His macho possessiveness was sometimes endearing, when it wasn't overwhelming and aggravating.

"Just don't treat me like I'm helpless, OK?"

"Believe me. I know you're not helpless," he conceded. "One more question though . . . "

Veronica braced herself.

"What about Duncan?"

"What about him?"

"Well now that he's back, doesn't that change everything?" She could hear the fear in his voice.

Veronica smiled sweetly but Logan correctly identified it as her fake smile, the one he always knew was hiding something. She knew this was hard for him but they have to clear the air. "How much does – did – Madison mean to you?"

Every muscle in Logan's body tensed. "This isn't about her. I told you – she meant less than nothing to me and I'm sorry it ever happened."

"Well, I'm not sorry I ever dated Duncan and he will always mean something to me, he was my first love."

Upon hearing Veronica say "Duncan" and "love" in the same sentence, Logan thought his heart would break right then and there. He was so afraid that this . . . what just happened . . . was her way of saying goodbye, of letting him down gently.

Stroking her hand across his face and down to his chest, Veronica continued reassuringly. "He was my first love, 'was', Logan, as in the past, over, finished. . . "

"I never loved Madison. I couldn't. It was _just_ sex, and not even good sex."

"That's not the point."

Logan didn't seem convince so Veronica tried another tactic. "What if . . ." she hesitated; they didn't really talk about Lily and especially not her death. Veronica swallowed and continued but looked away from Logan off into the distance as she spoke. "What if things were different? If Lily . . . if she wasn't dead but had just gone away for the last few years, like Duncan was?"

"But she is dead. Remember my father," he sneered, "the trial?" Logan clearly wasn't following her line of thought.

"Go with me on this," Veronica insisted. "If Lily walked in here right now – today – if you and I had woken up with her instead of Duncan . . ."

Wiggling his eyebrows at her suggestively, Logan readily accepted her premises, "I like where you're going with this. You, me and Lily . . . oh the possibilities. I'd be in heaven. I might never leave this bed, even if I could walk."

"Mind out of the gutter," Veronica demanded.

Reluctantly Logan abandoned that fantasy and returned his concentration to Veronica.

"Would Lily being here change anything about the way you feel about me?" Part of Veronica wasn't as sure of that answer as her bravado conveyed.

"No," Logan didn't hesitate. He'd made his piece with Lily a long time ago, junior year of high school in fact when he kissed Veronica in the driveway of his house after Aaron had beaten up Trina's boyfriend. "I told you, although I loved Lilly – past tense – Lilly loved guys and I have no reason to think that she and I would have lasted, at least not beyond high school."

"So," Veronica concluded, "why can't you believe that Duncan doesn't change the way I feel about you?"

"How do you feel about me?" Logan asked. He needed to hear her say it.

"I love you. I don't say it often enough and I should," Veronica gave him a sweet peck on the lips which earned her a shy smile from the boy growing into a man in her arms. "And only you."

Wrapping his powerful arms around her small frame, Logan rolled onto his back pulling Veronica atop his chest so she was stretched out on him, like a tiny blanket. "You better, because you're mine," he asserted as he claimed her soft mouth once again ready to remind her that they belonged together and that he would always be there for her.

The End

**A/N: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. **


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